Acknowledging the delay in the implementation of the deal, the parties reached an understanding to this effect during a meeting at the Prime Minister Office at Singha Durbar on Monday.[break]
“We agreed to set a timetable to effectively implement the seven-point agreement,” said Nepali Congress (NC) Vice-president Ram Chandra Paudel after the meeting.
The parties also agreed to send surveyors to the PLA cantonments by Wednesday to begin the task of categorization of the combatants into three groups -- those opting for integration, those opting for rehabilitation and those choosing voluntary retirement -- and complete the task by November 23.
During the meeting, the leaders also agreed to hold a meeting on Wednesday to settle the differences on the bills related to truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) and insurgency-era disappearances.
The parties agreed to take up the TRC bill at a time when the crimes committed during the insurgency have come to light, especially after the cabinet recommended to the president to pardon convicted murderer and lawmaker Balkrishna Dhungel.
According to leaders, the NC and UML leaders had objected to the appointment of ambassadors to China and India, and formation of Nepal´s largest-ever cabinet, and the cabinet´s recommendation to the president to pardon Dhungel.
“What has happened to the government´s promised austerities?” a participant quoted NC leaders as saying at the meeting. Similarly, the leaders expressed displeasure at the failure of the Maoist party to implement the seven-point deal, including the failure to return the seized properties. They stated that the Maoists should no longer blame their own party´s hard-line faction for non-implementation of the deal.
Coming out of the meeting, Maoist Vice-chairman and Foreign Minister Narayankaji Shrestha said the parties would press ahead with the issue of forming a national consensus government along with the peace process and constitution.
“There was a great enthusiasm regarding the peace process and constitution-drafting after the signing of the seven-point agreement but the enthusiasm seems to be dying now, so we decided to bridge the gap among the parties,” added Shrestha.
Maoist General Secretary Ram Bahadur Thapa, who represents the radical faction of the party, said his faction reiterated their disagreement regarding the seven-point agreement at the meeting.
Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Vice-chairman and Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, NC President Sushil Koirala and Vice-president Paudel, CPN-UML senior leader Madhav Kumar Nepal among other top leaders were present at the meeting.
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